The serviced apartment and corporate housing sector across the US and EMEA markets saw a strong but increasingly complex first half of 2026, with demand continuing to grow while operators faced mounting pressure around costs, supply constraints, regulation, and corporate procurement expectations.
Across both regions, the dominant trend has been the continued shift from traditional hotel stays toward extended-stay and apartment-style accommodation for project workers, relocation programmes, consultants, and long-duration business travel. Corporate buyers are prioritising larger living spaces, kitchens, wellbeing, and cost efficiency over conventional hotel formats, particularly for stays exceeding two to three weeks.
In the US market, Q1 2026 showed improving multifamily demand and stabilisation in the broader apartment sector after a softer 2025. According to CBRE, apartment absorption rebounded strongly while new construction slowed, helping improve occupancy fundamentals in many urban markets. This has indirectly benefited corporate housing providers, particularly those operating in gateway cities such as New York, Washington DC, Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco.
One of the biggest US corporate housing trends has been the rise of hybrid accommodation strategies, where companies combine short hotel stays with longer furnished apartment placements. There has also been a marked increase in mid-term rental demand (30–90+ nights), especially among:
- consulting firms,
- healthcare staffing,
- infrastructure projects,
- film and production crews,
- and remote project teams.
The US market is also seeing increased institutional involvement and brand expansion into the apartment-hotel hybrid space. Major hospitality groups are continuing to move into serviced apartments and branded residential products to capture long-stay corporate demand. Discussions around apartment-style hospitality models accelerated further in early 2026.
In EMEA, the market remained highly active despite economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Investment sentiment improved substantially compared with 2024–25, particularly in the “living” sector, including multifamily, co-living, PBSA, and serviced apartments. JLL reported that private sector investment activity increased strongly in Q1 2026, with larger institutional deals returning to the market.
The UK and wider European serviced apartment market experienced several important developments during Q1/Q2 2026:
- Corporate travel budgets recovered further.
- Extended-stay demand strengthened across London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Madrid, and Paris.
- Occupancy and ADR remained resilient despite increased supply pipelines.
- Investors continued targeting the sector due to stronger long-stay performance versus traditional hotels.
Savills reported that European serviced apartment investment volumes reached approximately €1.2bn, while serviced apartments still represent a relatively small percentage of Europe’s overall accommodation supply, leaving substantial room for expansion. Demand growth has significantly outperformed the wider hotel sector since 2019.
A major theme throughout EMEA in early 2026 was affordability pressure and housing shortages. Operators and relocation companies continued to face:
- rising rents,
- operational cost inflation,
- tighter inventory in key cities,
- and increasing pressure from procurement teams to reduce accommodation spend.
This has pushed many corporate buyers toward secondary and tertiary cities rather than relying solely on prime gateway locations. According to SilverDoor market commentary, companies are increasingly adopting multi-country sourcing strategies and looking beyond traditional Tier 1 cities to control budgets and improve availability.
Several broader structural trends also shaped the sector during Q1/Q2 2026:
- Longer average assignment durations in some sectors despite softer overall business travel growth.
- Increased demand for sustainable and ESG-compliant accommodation providers.
- More scrutiny on data security and traveller duty of care.
- Greater professionalisation of operators, with corporate clients demanding consistency and hotel-style service standards.
- Growing convergence between multifamily, hospitality, co-living, and corporate housing models.
For serviced apartment operators specifically, the first half of 2026 has generally been positive operationally, but margins remain under pressure due to:
- staffing costs,
- utilities,
- financing costs,
- OTA dependency,
- and increased client procurement pressure.
London remained one of the strongest but most challenging markets globally. Demand from relocation, finance, energy, consulting, and tech sectors stayed high, but supply shortages and elevated operating costs continued to create tension between rate growth and client affordability.
Overall, the sector entered mid-2026 with cautiously positive momentum. Demand fundamentals remain strong across both the US and EMEA, particularly for high-quality professionally managed extended-stay accommodation. However, operators are increasingly needing to balance:
- cost control,
- service consistency,
- compliance,
- and sustainability requirements,
while competing in a more institutionalised and procurement-driven environment than before the pandemic.